Play for a Spell
by Storychan
Summary: Chisame decides to use her Pactio artifact to enhance a video game called 'Magic's Play'. But when Negi, Yue, Konoka, and Setsuna get trapped inside, she must call on the technical expertise a fellow gamer claiming to be rhe infamous Seto Kaiba to help.
1. Chapter 1

Play For a Spell by Storychan

Chapter 1

Chisame Hasegawa didn't normally like to test her boundaries. She liked boundaries-safe little havens that made her school life at Mahora Academy more normal. Of course, regardless of her wishes, the boundaries of her normalcy as a student of Mahora Junior High for Girls Class 3-A had recently been tested, severely, sickeningly, and to her great ire. It wasn't bad enough that most of her class was populated by freaks. That had made jr. high difficult enough to grit her teeth and get through, until, hopefully, life would even out in high school and she could live a relatively boring, yet normal and sane, school life. No, no…Chisame's boundaries and patience had to receive another little test before she could simply graduate in peace.

It was her last year of jr. high, and then Takahata-sensei, a teacher that even though she didn't necessarily like, she had gotten used to for the last two years, had quit her class and been replaced. Not by any normal, sharp-suited and intelligent English teacher, no…..by a _ten-year-old child _who had randomly immigrated to Japan from _Wales. _The worst part was that her class, not questioning the fact that a little boy _five years their junior _was supposed to finalize their jr. high-level education in the English language, actually _liked _this random, out-of-left-field change. In fact, some of them wanted to _date _the sawed-off brat who was trying to pass himself off as their teacher…which, in itself was creepy.

Chisame's boundaries had recently been pushed even _farther _during MahoraFest, the school's annual festival. She'd found out that Negi Springfield, the aforementioned ten-year-old claiming to be a teacher, was also, if Chisame could keep up the willing suspension of disbelief to believe it, a _wizard. _She'd figured it out after Negi- the _brat_-had performed a bunch of flashy, couldn't-possibly-be-real kung fu-magic-Dragonball-looking moves at the school festival's big tournament show about half a week ago. She'd wondered at first if it was all a set-up….was the snot-nosed brat trying to _scam _the kids at school or something? The other students in the audience, of course, had just gone with it, all too willing to accept that a kid like Negi who could barely be old enough to enter the 5th grade was capable of such crazy-impossible skill and power. She'd wondered if this was some kind of publicity stunt, if Chao Lingshen (another freak in her class, a girl who'd randomly transferred in from China a few years back and in a freakishly small amount of time became some sort of famous, genius billionaire) had set the whole tournament up to increase business for her dining-car Chinese place. Chisame wouldn't put it past her. She had no idea why a classmate of hers would sponsor an event like that anyway….or why so many of her other classmates had entered it. Chisame would have been perfectly happy to believe that the whole class had dreamed up the whole thing as an attention-drawing charade….but then a _robot _(who somehow also had wound up in her loony-bin of a class) had informed her that the tournament was so crazy because it was _magic_…and that Chao was from the _future_, and trying to use it to make _everyone _believe that magic was not only real, but entirely normal. Chisame, rather than suffering a nervous breakdown after her head exploded from all this craziness, simply Googled some of Chachamaru's (the robot's) claims. As it turned out, the whole school was buzzing about magic. And, somehow, Chisame has been forced to help out Negi and his freaky friends in a plan to _stop _people believing in this magic stuff that had been driving her crazy.

She'd wound up beating Chachamaru in a hacker-battle in order to preserve some shred of the normal life she knew, hoping to stay even a _bit _sane after she'd seen Negi travel through time and throw magic arrows at Chao. Her life was totally losing it's boundaries….but today, she, against all odds, was testing the boundary between herself and magical lunacy once again.

In order to beat Chachamaru, she'd been coerced into acquiring the artifact she now held, a long staff that looked like it belonged in a magical girl show. She still seethed, flushing, at the memory of _how_….Paru-chan (another annoying classmate) had practically _forced _her, with the help of a talking weasel (Chisame wasn't even going to _think _about how crazy it was that something like that actually existed) to kiss Negi while he slept off the result of a spell that had forced her to believe in magic (and time travel). She'd hated even considering doing something so disgusting, but the creepy weasel thing, Chamo, had told her doing so, and forming a magical pact called a _Pactio_, would give her an artifact that could help her beat Chao's plan to make magic a part of already less-than-normal reality. Reluctantly, she'd agreed, knowing it was her one shot at even being able to _pretend _her life made sense. And, dammit, Negi had _woken up_, too, while she was trying to get it over with, that _brat! _

Still internally shuddering, she looked down at the staff she held as she sat in her dorm by her PC, wondering what the hell she was doing testing the boundaries of her normal life and magic again. As revolting as it had been to get it, the staff (called the _Spectrum Virtuale) _had wound up being immensely useful. It let her immerse her mental self (if not her physical one) in cyberspace, allowing her to essentially _become _the virtual entity she called herself on her homepage, Chiu. It was an escapist alter ego, and she knew it….but the alter ego had fans. Now, she was willing top test her boundaries for these fans, many of which had begged her to create a Chiu avatar on the RPG game that now sat before her on her screen, _Magic Play_. She had hypothesized that if the _Spectrum Virtuale _let a virtual version of herself actually _live _in cyberspace (which, once she'd accepted it was possible, was _awesome_) , then it could allow her to turn any computer game into virtual reality. So, sighing, she hit a button, creating a Level 1 Wizard character that looked exactly like her adorable, beloved alter ego, Chiu. The whole game was pretty dorky…all you did was cast lame-looking spells in order to beat dumb monsters, like dragons. But, then, most of Chiu's fans were at least a little dorky, but they loved her, and Chisame loved being loved, so she tried to appease them. Since actually playing the game normally sounded kind of boring, Chisame had decided to see how using the _Spectrum Virtuale _could make it more interesting.

"Here goes nothing…." She sighed, bracing herself to go virtual while her physical body slept in reality. She was so focused on preparing herself for the weirdness of using the _Spectrum Virtuale _that she didn't even notice Negi and some of his friends sneak in through her unlocked door behind her to invite her to tea…..

Chapter 2

"Oh, _wow." _Chisame said, shocked, as she looked at the new virtual environment surrounding her. The crappy graphics of the actual _Magic Play _game had transformed into a lush, beautiful world to walk in before her eyes with the help of the _Spectrum Virtuale._ Before her was a clearing full of thick-branched, vibrantly green trees, tall, thick grass, and a few rays of pale sunlight shining through it to the forest floor. Remembering what she'd read of the _Magic Play _guidebook she'd looked up earlier, she realized she must be in what was called the Enchanted Forest. It was supposed to be the game area where all newbies started out at to face their first monsters. "It looks so peaceful, though." Chisame said aloud, surprised. She almost jumped a whole foot in the air when a timid English voice said, "I agree, it's nice. Chisame-san, where are we?"

Looking behind her, Chisame was shocked to see what could only be Negi, decked out in the lame robe and wizard hat of a basic Level 1 Wizard! What was worse, a few of what looked like her classmates stood behind him. There was Yue Ayase, a shrimpy girl in the Library Club she sat next to in class who had also recently found out about Negi's magic. She apparently had somehow become a Level 1 Wizard as well. Next to her was her friend, another girl in the Library Club from Chisame's class who knew the truth about Negi (she was one of the ones who wanted to date the brat..eww) a shy girl, Nodoka Miyazaki. She seemed to be dressed as a Level 1 Healer. At her side, in the same white-and-pink Healer garb, was yet another classmate, Konoka Konoe, the school dean's airhead granddaughter. Glaring from behind her in the outfit of a Level 1 Warrior was Setsuna Sakurazaki, who Chisame recently found out not only knew about magic, but actually used it to _attack _people as part of some freaky magical samurai training to help guard Konoka, who apparently was some sort of _wizard princess_. "I'm curious, as well, Chisame-san." Yue said, apparently the least confused out of the group. "Where are we? A second ago, we were coming into your dorm room to ask you if you wanted to join us for tea at the school cafeteria. Can you please tell us what's going on?" she droned in her odd philosopher monotone.

**Oh my GOD, **Chisame thought to herself, her heart racing still from the shock of their appearance. **They FOllOWED me. Ugh…those twits! They must have stepped in the circle with me when I activated the **_**Spectrum Virtuale. **_**Don't tell me…..their physical bodies are sitting back in my dorm room, as well? Oh no….why did they have to tag along? They're idiots. Always breaking into my freakin' personal space where they don't belong..Why would they invite me to TEA, anyway? Don't tell me that because of that hacker thing I did to help them out at that crazy MahoraFest incident, they think we're FRIENDS now, or something…Crap! I gotta get them out of here….Think, Chisame!**

Taking a deep breath, she tried to explain things to the idiot Negi, who was stupid enough to follow her in here. "Listen, I'm sorry you wound up here, but you gotta get back to the real world, OK? Pronto. Let me think how to…"

"Oh, Chisame-chan!" Konoka interrupted her excitedly. "Wait a minute! This is _Magic's Play_, isn't it? I played this game once!" **What? **Chisame thought to herself, mind racing to come up with a plan to deal with this hairbrained situation her over-friendly classmates had started. **Don't tell me Konoe-san actually PLAYS this sort of thing.. **Before Chisame could actually think about that, though, Negi interrupted her thoughts again, saying excitedly, "Game? Oh, Chisame-san, don't tell me you're actually using your new artifact I gave you! The _Spectrum Virtuale_, wasn't it? By _golly…_are we in some sort of computer game?"

"That's correct, isn't it, Hasegawa-san?" asked Setsuna, recovering from her shock. "We've accidentally stepped into the middle of this _Magic's Play _thing Ojou-sama and Negi-sensei are speaking of, aren't we? It would explain the clothes we're in." Setsuna looked down at her fanciful armored costume and blushed. "Is that right, Hasegawa-san?" Nodoka demanded, speaking up bravely. "Are we inside some kind of video game?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Chisame griped, growing frustrated with all the demands of the group before her. It wasn't _her _fault they'd walked into her room behind her right when she'd incanted the spell with the _Spectrum Virtuale_ to bring herself here. "First of all, when I look like _this, _call me Chiu-chan." she said, indicating the short fashion-idol skirt swinging in the breeze below her that she wore. It was perfectly coordinated with the cutesy tank and kitty ears she wore as part of her standard 'net-idol get-up whenever she posted on her homepage as Chiu. She also noticeably lacked the thick glasses she wore to class, and everywhere besides in the pictures she took for her 'Chiu's Homepage' fans. It wasn't like she made herself look like this for _nothing. _None of her geeky fanboys would recognize her as the bespectacled and incredibly ordinary schoolgirl she was in real life, and she wanted to keep it that way. Her 'Chiu' alter ego was much prettier, anyway. These idiot classmates of her could at least realize _that. _"Second of all," she said, resuming her irate speech, "I was trying to test out the _Spectrum Virtuale _to see what it did to this game _by myself. _You shouldn't have walked into _my _room and followed me in here! Besides, I've now I've got to get you all out of…."

Before Chisame could say "here", she heard a strange rustling in the bushes behind her, and turned to see what the heck else was in here with her. Then, she screamed, as a huge Level 1 Dragon stuck it's knobbly, acid-green head out of the bushes and roared at her! Apparently, the "game's 1st monster" was here after all….only now, she was actally _inside _the game, and there was no way she could hit the 'Attack' button back on her computer screen back in the real world to stop it!

Chapter 3

"Chisame-san!" Negi screamed. "Run!" His words were needless…Chisame was already running like hell. This had been a bad idea…what was she thinking, going inside a magic-themed video game? Hadn't she had _enough _freaky magic in her life? Now, she might not even be able to get _back _to that life, because a dragon was going to eat her before she could even get out of here and back to her actual body! She didn't even want to _think _about what would happen if her _mental _self was eaten alive while her body was still out _there_, in the real world, sleeping, while she was trapped here in cyberspace. She kept running, cursing her stupid boundary-pushing curiosity for getting her into this mess. She should have left this freaky magic stuff well enough alone…she'd been so stupid. And now, a dragon was going to eat her!

"Arrrrgh!" she screamed as she stumbled over some virtual rocks. "What was I _thinking? _Now I'm going to freaking _die!" _Negi ran past her, stopping a few feet ahead. "You're not going to die, Chisame-san." he said calmly, with a smile so irritating Chisame wanted to choke him with his own hat. He began chanting, holding up the dinky starter wand beginner characters in _Magic's Play _always started out with. Chisame raised an irritated eyebrow, stumbling frantically over another rock. What did the brat think he was _doing?_ "Raster, maskil, magister…" Negi chanted, oblivious to Chisame's confusion. "Sagitta magica! Una fulgaris!" He flicked the ridiculously small wand at the dragon, and a burst of lightning stopped it in it's tracks. As Chisame cried out in shock, smoke filled the clearing where they stood. "What are you d-doing?" she coughed, waving the smoke away. Then, looking to where the dragon had stood, she gasped. In it's place was a small bag of coins, and the word "VICTORY ~" glowed vibrantly in mid-air. That was when Chisame, startled, remembered…she'd read that the 1st spell wizards in this game started out with at Level 1 was 'Lightning Arrow'…..As her mind struggled with the idea that Negi had beat Level 1 and saved her, she slowly began to notice the whole scene fade to black…..

With a startled yelp, Chisame found herself sitting in a glowing circle, leaning back in her computer chair, staring at the words 'LEVEL UP' blinking at her on her computer screen as she found herself pulled back into reality. Wiping sleep-drool off her chin, she blinked confusedly at her PC, and turned around to thank Negi for helping her beat the level and get back home, when heard a clatter and realized that Negi, still asleep and incredibly still, had collapsed onto her floor as the chair he'd been leaning on turned to reveal Chisame's shocked face. Apparently, the fact that Negi in his green teacher's suit and Yue, Nodoka, Konoka, and Setsuna in their school uniforms still lay prone and passed out on her floor meant that their minds were still trapped in the computer game Chisame had just barely escaped.

Freaked out by the thought that her classmates were still trapped in Level 2 of _Magic's Play_ without her, with possibly no way for her to get them out, Chisame barely noticed a flashing icon on the bottom of screen informing her that someone named **Kaiba_Man **had sent her a message...and possibly, a friend request. Completely freaked out, Chisame screamed, "What do you want?" before reminding herself that **Kaiba_Man **was not actually present with her but somewhere else playing _Magic's Play _from wherever the hell he lived, and took a deep breath. Sighing, she clicked on the message, and opened it, not knowing what else she could possibly do to help with this horrid situation she'd gotten herself into, all the while cursing the magic…and magic-using 10-year-old teacher….who had started it.

The message, shockingly, looked almost helpful:

**To: CHIU**

**From: Kaiba_Man**

**Re: Helping Your Idiot Friends**

**Hello…My name is Seto Kaiba. I'm from Domino City, and you may have heard of me. I helped create the hologram version of the card game, Duel Monsters. I've noticed you look exactly like the famous Internet idol with the same name as your username…Chiu. If you're her, I thought you might like help getting your idiot friends out of this game. It's obvious they only started playing because of you. I guess it's because you're famous or something. You might have noticed, but in the game chatbox they keep sending messages saying that they actually think they're somehow magically trapped in the game. No offense, but they're idiots. My guess is you've somehow created some virtual reality technology that they messed with, and now they're too stupid to realize they're using it, and think some sort of 'magic' has 'trapped' them in the game of **_**Magic's Play. **_**I think if I can help them beat the game, your virtual reality machine might shut down and they'll wake up and realize they're just too stupid to realize they're playing a game. However, once I help them beat it, I demand that you let me come to your location and let me see this virtual reality tech you've come up with. I'm interested in buying it.**

**-Seto Kaiba**

**CEO, KaibaCorp.**

Chisame simply gaped at the screen before her. Seto Kaiba…wasn't he that guy in Domino City who'd hosted that dorky card game tournament a while back? Chisame had heard about it on the 'Net…it had been _super _popular. Hadn't been called Battle City, or something? Chisame would worry about showing this Kaiba guy her 'virtual reality machine' later….if he could help her get Negi and the rest of those meddling idiots out of cyberspace, she _had _to get him to help!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Seto Kaiba sat in his office, staring out the window in utter boredom. He'd had so little work to do recently that he'd started playing computer games just to kill the time until he could challenge Yugi again. It hadn't been as bad as he'd thought….while he was completing Level 50 of a game called _Magic's Play_, he'd run across a newbie calling herself Chiu. Seto remembered seeing the name Chiu before….he'd checked out the homepage of a 'net-idol named Chiu once or twice on the recommendation of someone he'd instant messaged while playing another computer game, an unofficial adaption of Duel Monsters that he'd beat easily (as he had expected). The idol, Chiu-chan, had been kind of interesting, but Seto had been too busy too look into it that much. When he saw that the _Magic's Play _Chiu had looked exactly like the idol Chiu, he'd been intrigued.

He'd wondered if the newbie wizard character calling herself Chiu was just some lame wannabe cosplaying as the idol, or if perhaps she could be the same person. He'd almost grown disinterested with trying to find out when a bunch of other newbies clustered around gamer-Chiu had started spamming the _Magic's Play _chat-box claiming that they were somehow magically 'trapped' in the game. Seto was too smart to believe that nonsense….obviously, these idiots were just like that pathetic Yugi and his friends: convinced that 'magic' and ancient spirits lurked behind every hologram they dueled with.

The idiots in Chiu's group would probably also believe Yugi's cockamammy story that Yugi and himself were reincarnations of Egyptian wizards that had battled thousands of years ago. **Right, **Seto smirked to himself, **and I'm the Emperor of Japan, too. **It was quickly made obvious to him by the inane comments of Chiu's friends that they had gotten themselves stuck in a virtual reality device and had been too stupid to even realize it. Frowning, Seto remembered how a hologram malfunction during his duel in Battle City with Yugi had caused that pointy-haired idiot of a duelist-damn Yugi- and his friends to conclude that 'magic' had sent Yugi and himself to ancient Egypt. Seto guessed that the idiots following Chiu through Level 1 of _Magic's Play _had similarly used 'magic' to explain their lack of understanding of technology.

However, the fact that this Chiu had likely _created _the virtual reality machine her friends had mistaken for 'magic' intrigued him. He knew that the _idol _Chiu was also a famed Internet hacker, according to Google. So, he had guessed that if _gamer _Chiu was the same person, then it could easily be guessed that 'Chiu' had the technological know-how to build a virtual reality device good enough to fool her friends into thinking they were actually in _Magic's Play_'s 'Enchanted Forest' play area. If such a machine existed, he, Seto Kaiba, would find it. And, when he found it, he would get that amazing device for himself.

That was why he'd sent gamer-Chiu a note. He had to know if this Chiu was the same Chiu he knew to be capable of such invention. If she was, it would explain everything. The idiots who thought they were 'trapped' in _Magic's Play _would have to be fans of 'Chiu's Homepage' who had met up with her and stumbled into the virtual reality system she'd been testing at the time…a system that Seto would covet until he saw it himself.

As he stood at his window, grinning at the thought of acquiring such technology, he heard a ding coming from his computer that told him he had a message. The mysterious Chiu had finally written him back! As he sat down in his chair, eagerly leaning forward for information regarding the virtual reality simulator that had fooled those idiot Chiu fans, he smirked haughtily and began to read:

**To: Kaiba_Man**

**From: CHIU**

**Re: Re: Your Idiot Friends**

**Hello, Kaiba-sama. This is Chiu…you're correct, I am the same Chiu famous for appearing on 'Chiu's Homepage'. My friends did indeed mess with my 'virtual reality device'. For reasons I'd…..rather not state, I can't give you specifics of how the virtual reality works over the Internet. If you can come to Mahora Jr. High for Girls in Mahora City, I might be able to let you test this….simulator. Please come to the enclosed address. If you use my 'virtual reality' with me, I REALLY hope you can help me beat the game and get my…peers….out of it! It's URGENT. **

**Help!**

**-Chiu-chan**

As Seto continued reading the message, his smirk vanished. **'Reasons she'd rather not state'? What the **_**hell **_**did that mean? Was this chick seriously going to make him travel all the way to Mahora City? **Seto wondered as he stared at the screen, frowning. **I guess she's paranoid that I'll steal her idea if she explains the workings of it over the 'Net. **Seto thought, a pout of frustration blooming upon his face as he stared at the screen some more. **Of course, I **_**do **_**want to check out this new virtual reality tech. Badly. I can imagine how it would improve by hologram production for the next Duel Disk I make to challenge Yugi with. I need to have every possible edge against my competition, no matter what. And this Chiu girl's tech, if I can get it, would totally help with that. Hmm..**, he thought, mulling over how much he was willing to do to get Chiu's virtual reality tech. **I guess Mahora City isn't that far away. I'm bored anyway, so I might as well check it out. It will be good to get some fresh air, at least. Even if Chiu's tech is a bust. **His decision made, he smirked. "Mokuba-kun!" he called. "Go prepare our new Blue-Eyes Jet. We're going to Mahora City!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 5

Seto Kaiba was not an ordinary high school student. In fact, he'd spent more time either in his office or on the stage of a tournament winning duels than he'd ever spent in a classroom. As such, he had almost _no _idea how to navigate through the frantic crowds of students traveling through the sprawling campus of Mahora Academy's Jr. High for Girls.

He assumed Chiu went here, however. **Otherwise**, Seto thought to himself as he strolled briskly past a gaggle of girls in their 3rd year, **she wouldn't have demanded I come all the way out here to meet her. **Not that Seto was actually here for _her_, per se. It was the possibility of using the virtual reality machine she claimed to have at the school with her that had _really _drawn him. It was the thought of acquiring this piece of technology that made Seto stroll faster, with what the girls dashing past him would notice as an aura of intense, business-like focus. **Because**, Seto reasoned as he crossed the street to a row of dormitories, **if this technology truly exists, I must have it. Nobody but me deserves the edge it will offer me over my competition...idiots who would **_**dare**_** try to surpass me…..like Yugi.**

**But then, **Seto thought as he sat on a bench outside the upperclassman's dorm, **Since Yugi is about as smart as those idiots who think they're 'magically' trapped inside **_**Magic's Play**_**, I guess I don't have very much to worry about. **He smirked at that thought, but his smirk began to vanish as he continued to sit there, seeing no sign of Chiu, the cybergenius girl who had demanded to meet him at this ridiculously oversized school. Shifting in his seat on the bench, he dragged out his shiny, new phone to call Mokuba, his little brother who had agreed to come with him on the flight over to Mahora City. Frowning, he waited for him to answer. Shortly, an excited young voice answered, "Oniisama? What's going on? Is the meeting with Chiu-chan over already?"

"No, Mokuba-kun." Seto answered, sighing, as a cool seasonal wind blew over the bench where he sat, ruffling the longcoat he'd gotten dry-cleaned for the occasion. 'It hasn't even started. Chiu's a no-show." A rush of static came over the line as Seto heard Mokuba sigh. "Do you want me to come get you then, Oniisama?" he asked. "I'd hate for you to just sit there when we have a warm jet to get back to." With a mutter of disappointed agreement, Seto ended the call, and minutes later, Mokuba appeared at his side, noticeably disappointed that his brother's plans hadn't gone well. "I wish we could have met Chiu-chan." he said, clinging to his brother's coat in the chill spring air.

A girl with pale green hair the color of new leaves and oddly robotic-looking accessories stepped past them at just that moment, and stopped. "Pardon me, sir." the girl said, looking directly at the two of them, her face lacking any clear expression to read. "Did you just mention the name 'Chiu-chan'?"

Seto, raising an eyebrow at the robotic-looking girl, slightly curious, and said, "My brother just did, yes. Why do you want to know? Do you know where this Chiu-chan could be? She was obviously late to meet me here."

"I'm not sure why she declined to meet you, sir," the girl said with a faint hint of a vaguely English-sounding accent in her voice, "but if it's Chisa…pardon me, I mean, Chiu-chan you're looking for, I suggest you try her dorm room." With a hint of a smile, the girl added politely, "I could show you where it is, if you like."

"Could you?" Mokuba said, leaping toward the girl with eager gratitude. "That'd be great!" Frowning, Seto tried to catch up to his brother, saying, "Now, wait a minute, Mokuba-kun. Miss…are you sure it's alright for us to just go tromping into a girl's dormitory? I don't have time for us to get sued for trespassing."

The girl, still smiling slightly, shook her head. "I'm sure it will be all right, sir. A boy about your brother's age actually _lives _in this dorm. If you will come with me, I'll be happy to show you where Chiu-chan lives."

Shrugging, Seto agreed and began following the girl into the dormitory and up a small, winding staircase. **At least now this trip won't be wasted**, he thought. **I just hope Chiu-chan is in. It would suck if she asked me to come here and then couldn't even meet with me. **

As they neared a doorway marked HASEGAWA, the girl stopped, indicating that this was the place. **I guess Chiu is a pseudonym, then. **Seto guessed, knocking on the door.

There was no answer. "It's open," the girl informed him. "So I suppose you can go on in." Shrugging, Seto prepared to enter the dorm room. "Thank you," Seto told the girl, "whatever the hell your name is. I really hope I get to meet this girl, since she made me fly all the way out here to see here. Let's hope she's inside." **I don't want to have wasted my time**, Seto thought. **I have a company to run.**

"You're quite welcome, sir," the girl said calmly, apparently not bothered in the slightest by Seto's comments. "And, by the way, my name is Chachamaru Karakuri."

"Well, Karakuri-san," Seto smirked, "let's hope your directions prove useful." He then cracked open the unlocked door, and boldly strode into Chiu's dorm.

As he entered, he nearly tripped in the darkness of the quiet room over the sleeping form of a girl who looked exactly like the pictures of Chiu he'd seen online. She and a couple of other kids lay sleeping in a glowing circle that surrounded the desk upon which her computer sat, displaying a saved screenshot of _Magic's Play. _

**Is that circle thing her virtual reality simulator? **Seto wondered, puzzled. **Those kids she's lying next to look a lot like the avatars of those idiots I saw saying they were 'trapped' in the **_**Magic's Play **_** game. **As he and Mokuba, wondering what was going on, leaned in for a closer look, Seto felt a strange pull on his shoe as she stepped over the circle's glowing line. Stunned, he felt himself fall to the floor as the whole of the dorm room began to spin and then fade to completely black…..

As Seto opened his eyes, he noticed a heavy object in his palm. Looking down, he saw he was carrying what looked exactly like the shiny staff of his Level 50 Wizard character on _Magic's Play. _Looking down further, he saw he was in what looked like wizard's robes, as well. He blinked, wondering when he'd entered the virtual reality system. He smirked. **I was right, **he thought. **If I didn't even realize I'd started it using it, Chiu's virtual reality tech must be impressive, indeed. I'll try to buy it off her as soon as I beat this game! **Taking stock of the environment around him, his smirk widened. The detail of the scene was incredible. He'd almost think he was really _in _the Enchanted Forest…not that was possible, of course. As he stood in the forest clearing, he swore he could even hear birds chirping in the trees overhead. Oh, yes…this virtual reality tech would _definitely _be worth acquiring. It was good. Therefore, he would have it.

"It _is _pretty, isn't it, Oniisama?" said an excited voice from around the bend in the path he stood on. Moving towards the sound, Seto saw his brother Mokuba, decked out in the style of a Level 1 Warrior in the game of _Magic's Play. _Apparently, Mokuba had been dragged into Chiu's virtual reality machine, too.

"It is nice, Mokuba-kun," Seto agreed. "It will look perfect as a supplement to the hologram technologies I already own." Seto could imagine seeing a virtual replica of his Blue-Eyes in this much virtual detail. "But first," he added, "we have to find Chiu-chan to compliment her on creating such a fine virtual reality simulator for us."

As he stepped further down the path, his request seemed answered. Chiu appeared directly before him as he walked, muttering about someone named Negi. "Chiu-chan?" Seto called to her. "Is that you, at last?"

Chisame Hasegawa stopped in her virtual tracks, staring. **Thank God**, she thought. **He actually came! Now, he can help me find that stupid Negi! I haven't seen him since I got back to cyberspace to come get him out. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 6

Chisame was a little off her game. That was, to say, her _virtual _game: she'd gotten herself trapped in this magically-enhanced (UGH…did Chisame just seriously think the word 'magicall-enhanced''? ) version of the videogame _Magic's Play_ when she'd crawled back into cyberspace to rescue Negi, the ten-year-old _idiot _who had somehow become her English teacher.

She hadn't even wanted to _believe_ in magic, at first. In fact, she still didn't _want _to believe it. So, for the last several minutes, she'd been scolding herself for pushing her boundaries so far as to create a situation that would trap her in cyberspace _anyway_….when Seto Kaiba had showed up. She'd congratulated herself for requesting his help: he was supposedly a famous tech & game expert, and on her request, he'd come all the way from Domino City to meet her.

He'd told her in an e-mail about his hypothesis: if he could help her beat the game of _Magic's Play_, she and her idiot friends (technically, they were friend of _Negi's) _would be returned to the real world.

Of course, now, she couldn't even _find _Negi, let alone help Kaiba rescue him. She was just on the verge of telling Kaiba all of this when she'd heard a rustle coming from the direction of a nearby bush.

She'd gotten noticeably freaked out, and for good reason. Negi & Co. had only become trapped here in _Magic's Play_'s Enchanted Forest game area in the 1st place after a rustling in the bushes had revealed a dragon that had scared her so badly that she'd lept out of cyberspace without them. **Of course, **Chisame thought as she stepped away from Kaiba to hide behind another nearby bush, **Negi wound up beating that dragon, too, so she shouldn't be THAT worried…Not that I spend a lot of time worrying about that idiot. It's his fault that he got stuck here. **She sighed, motioning for Kaiba and the gaping kid next to him (she thought she'd heard Kaiba call him Mokuba) to join her in caution behind the bush. **Still, **she thought, **I can't just leave him here. He causes enough trouble as it is in the **_**real **_**world. Lord knows what he'll do **_**here. **_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the snapping of a twig, and out of the brush stepped….Negi, himself!

**That idiot! **Chisame thought, standing above the brush to glare at her foolish sensei. **Where has he been all this time?**

"I've never seen a _Magic's Play _monster like _that _before," Seto Kaiba whispered from beside her, still crouching down in reserved caution. "Is that some sort of knight?"

'No," Chisame frowned, stepping over the bush to stand next to Negi. "_This _is my idiot friend who got trapped here."

As Seto stood to peek at the aforementioned idiot he'd heard so much about, dragging the kid he'd brought with him, Mokuba, into a standing position as well, Negi spoke up, smiling:

"Negi Springfield is my name," he said, smiling courteously with a polite nod of his head. "And, as you can see, I'm a wizard. Pleasure!..and, you are?"

Seto, grimacing down at the fantastically dressed child, said evenly, "The name's Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. And this is my brother, Mokuba. In case you hadn't noticed, your friend here," he said, obviously annoyed, indicating Chisame, who stood to his side, "called us here to get you out. Now, where are the other idiots," he smirked, "who're convinced they're 'trapped' here?"

Still smiling, Negi led them through the brush to a clearing, where the purple-haired girl Chisame knew to be Nodoka lay passed out on the ground, with Chisame's other classmate, Yue, in the guise of a wizard, standing over her. "Negi-sensei!" she called out as they approached. "Nodoka-san has fainted again..could you cast some sort of…Oh."

She'd just noticed the pouting form of Kaiba standing behind her teacher, Negi, and reluctant classmate (Chisame) who was currently going by the name of Chiu.

"Umm..Chiu-chan?" Yue said inquisitively, "Who is that…"

Kaiba cut her off with a gesture, interrupting frustratedly, saying, "I'm Kaiba. I'm here to get you out of this game. So, can you collect the rest of your silly little friends so we can _actually get going?"_

"Wait a second." Yue retorted, eyes narrowed in angry suspicion. "My 'silly friend', as you put it, Nodoka-san, is currently unconscious. Of course we can 'get going',as you say, Kaiba-san. But _only _after all of us are awake and ready to leave."

Kaiba shrugged, seething but in silent agreement, and sat down on a nearby stump. As Chisame sat down next to him to wait for Nodoka to wake up, they both blinked in surprise as the sound of footsteps approaching sounded from another bush.

Voices began to accompany the still-nearing footsteps as a girl's voice shouted, "Secchan! Wait up! Let me carry that firewood for you!"

An equally insistent voice responded, "Ojou-sama, it is _not _suitable for someone of your station to be seen carrying sticks! Trust me, I can manage this firewood until we are…"

"We're back at camp!" the first voice shouted, giggling, as it's owner, a silly-looking brunette that Seto saw was dressed as a newbie Healer character, crashed through the brush into the clearing where they sat. The brunette blinked, calling back to her partner, "Oh, look, Secchan! Another person playing _Magic's Play _has come to help us!"

'Secchan' stepped into the clearing with a stack of firewood just then. She was a more boyish brunette, who appeared to be dressed as a freshly-created Warrior character, if the impractical-looking armor she was (reluctantly) wearing was any indication.

"Oh, good." Chisame sighed as the two stepped forward to glance at the newly-arrived Kaiba brothers. "Konoe-san, Sakurazaki-san, you're back." **Now that you're actually **_**here**_**, **she thought harriedly, **I can try to explain to you how I got this average mortal, Kaiba-sama, to come into cyberspace and help us. **

Setsuna Sakurazaki, glancing at Seto, and Mokuba, who stood tentatively behind him, looked knowingly at Chisame, saying, "These two are simple _Magic's Play _players you recruited to help us successfully get through the game, correct?"

"Yes," Chisame replied, knowing full well that Setsuna had meant _These people don't know we were brought here by magic, right?_

"Kaiba-sama is a gaming expert from Domino City who I recruited to help us with our _virtual reality simulator malfunction_," she explained to the group, hoping they would understand the message to not discuss the actual magic that had gotten them stuck here around him. **Nobody else needs to know that magic actually exists. **Chisame told herself. **He just needs to help us beat the game and get the heck out of here. We don't need him to know about the **_**Spectrum Virtuale **_**to do that. I'll figure out what to tell him about how I got us into 'virtual reality' **_**later. **_

"Right now," she continued aloud, "we just need to beat the game. Kaiba-sama believes that if we can do that, we can get home."

"Is that true, Kaiba-san?" Negi asked curiously. "If we complete every level of _Magic's Play_, will we be able to go home?"

Yue agreed with him, saying, "Yes, Kaiba-san, Chiu-chan. If that is indeed possible, it would be our best course of action!"

"It doesn't matter if it's true," Chisame told them, crossing her arms in exasperation. "Right now, it's the only plan we've got. So no matter if this winds up working or not, all we can do right now is listen to Kaiba-sama in his advice in how to help us survive long enough to reach Level 3."

"Chiu-chan's right," Seto informed them. "Right now, all of you should just be worried about not getting game-overed because a dragon eats you, or something. Since this is virtual reality we're dealing with, I guess we should try to get some 'sleep', or whatever sort of thing like it Chiu-chan's virtual reality system can come up with. Sakurazaki-san, was it?" Seto inquired, pointing at Setsuna, who was building a fire in the corner. "Since you are the only Warrior character here besides my brother, Mokuba, I think you should stand watch." Smirking, he added, "You know, so a _'magical' dragon _doesn't eat us."

Chisame, nodding, realized she was glad that Seto didn't believe in magic. It would be a lot easier to deal with being trapped here with these idiots if she knew someone else that thought they were as stupid as she did. Had Seto realized that her 'virtual reality system' was in fact a magical artifact, he'd have been forced to agree with these idiots that it was _magic's _fault they were trapped in this game..a fact even Chisame still didn't want to believe.

After they had all gotten their camp situated, Chisame sat down on a rock to speak to Seto. Lowering her voice, she told him, "I'm glad you came out here to help me. Lord knows these idiots would still be whining about how 'magic had gotten them trapped' if you hadn't been here to tell them to organize a campsite." **Or at least, **Chisame considered, **they wouldn't have listened to Sakurazaki-san tell them to.**

"Actually," Seto, sighing, said to her, "I have some…well, not exactly _friends_, but an idiot nemesis of mine and his pals who keep _following me around_, who act, well, almost _exactly _this stupid. So I can guess you can say I have experience with magic-obsessed morons, Chiu-chan."

"To tell you the truth," Chisame admitted, "these fools aren't exactly my 'friends', either. They're the pals of _my_ nemesis, actually, who snuck into where I was working on, um, 'virtual reality', to invite me to _tea." _She laughed exasperatedly, shaking her head at the stupidity of the situation she'd gotten herself into. "Oh, and Kaiba-san?" she said, suddenly self-conscious for reasons she couldn't quite identify. "You don't have to call me Chiu-chan, if you don't want to. My real name's Chisame."

"I actually already figured that 'Chiu' wasn't your real name," Seto confessed, shrugging. "I sort of saw the surname 'Hasegawa' on your dorm room door when I first stepped into your VR simulator."

"Oh, you did?" Chisame said, blushing. **Great, **she sighed to herself. **Now a complete stranger knows my whole actual identity. **"But, yeah," she told him, resigning herself to the fact that he now knew her real name…not that she thought he'd actually tell her 'Chiu' fans, per se. "Chisame Hasegawa is my name. And, well, I already know yours. You're, like, famous. The famous Seto Kaiba. And, uh.." Chisame struggled to remember what she'd read about Seto on the 'Net. "Your nemesis, that you were telling me about, the idiot? That's Yugi Motou, right?" She remembered reading something about Yugi beating Kaiba at some card duel a little while back.

"Yeah, that's him." Seto agreed, scowling. "He _is _an idiot. He and his pathetic friends are convinced that he's winning duels because he's like, some _3,000 year-old magical pharaoh spirit_, or something. He's also convinced that during our last duel," Seto seethed, scowling (Chisame guessed he was still bitter that the idiot, Yugi, had won) "we went back to ancient Egypt, in like, our _past lives_, or something, and watched each other use _magic_ in some sort of ancient duel."

"That sounds hard to believe." Chisame told him.

'It IS hard to believe, Hasegawa-chan!" Seto scowled, obviously angry at even _thinking_ about his foolish rival Yugi's cockamammy story. "And that's because it's _impossible_. Magic is _not real. _You know that."

**I WISH I knew that, **Chisame thought to herself, now scowling as much as Seto. **But my recent experiences with that stupid Negi-sensei…and I'm STILL having trouble believing a kid like him could actually BE a sensei…have practically FORCED me to accept magic as a reality. Maybe magical **_**pharaoh spirits**_** aren't real, but, to be honest, the boundaries of what I'm willing to believe have been seriously tested lately. I mean, I've seen wizardry from that idiot Negi, time travel, robots like Chachamaru-san…Hell. I don't….**

"I don't WANT to believe that anything else magical is real," she finished aloud, taking a deep breath and looking back at Seto, who seemed to be calming down from his rant as well.

"I don't, either, Hasegawa-chan," he told her. "But right now, we should just worry about getting these _idiot _friends of yours pack home so they can get back to their silly, little, magic-obsessed lives. They're idiots.. But we're going to need to work really hard to get them out of here."

Chisame nodded, resigning herself to the task. As the only halfway-sane people here, it would be her and Seto's job to get her idiot sensei and his followers home.

**If I don't**, Chisame reasoned, **then I may never get back to what's left of my normal life.**

**And I, **Seto thought, **may never get my hands on the VR tech that created the lovely virtual Hasegawa-san that now stands before me!**

"So, uh, good night, Kaiba-sama." Chisame told him, walking back towards the tent that idiot Negi had somehow set up for her and the other girls.

"Oh, um, good night, Hasegawa-chan." Seto said, making his way towards the tent he would be forced to share with the aforementioned Negi.

Staying in close quarters with her idiot classmates would be Hell, Chisame reasoned. But then, Hell, at least, was something she already believed in.

As she leaned down with this sobering thought to open her tent flap, she remembered something she'd wanted to say to her at-least-halfway-sane rescuer:

"Oh, and Kaiba-sama?" Chisame called to him as she heard him settle into his own official _Magic's Play _Newbie Pack tent. "FYI, if you want to…you can just call me Chisame-chan."

Flushing, she took his lack of response as an 'OK', and attempted to get some virtual sleep. She knew all too well that she'd need it.


	5. Chapter 5

Play for A Spell- Chapter 5

Seto lay awake in his virtual tent, staring at his virtual roof. The detail of the virtual environment, he had to admit, was remarkable. As was the realness of just how faithfully Negi Springfield's annoying voice had been translated into Chisame's virtual reality.

That stupid Negi, Chisame's friend, or according to her, nemesis, had been prattling on to Mokuba inanely about _magic _ and _ wizards _ for over an hour since Seto had said good night to Chisame, and slipped into the narrow tent he had been forced to share with them.

He felt bad for Chisame, though. _Her _tent was just as small, but there were a lot more girls in the group…all of which were expected to sleep in that confined space with Chisame. The girls probably went to Mahora Academy, he reasoned. He'd found the virtual reality machine in Chisame's dorm, after all. Logically, that must have been how the stupid girls he'd agreed to save (for the sake of acquiring the VR simulator they were now inside, naturally) had found it. They probably lived in the dorm, too.

**How banal, ** Seto thought. He'd never lived in a school dormitory: he'd had a room of his own at the Kaiba building for the longest time now…..before that….Seto didn't **want ** to remember the place he had shared with Mokuba. He'd never been to boarding school, never had to share living space with classmates like that. **If I had**, he thought, smirking, **I probably would have gone crazy by now. I couldn't stand living with airheaded little brats like that. I have my company to deal with. Brats like them would only get in the way. Plus, I couldn't leave the dorm to duel.**

**Chisame-chan lives with it though, ** he thought. He couldn't believe Chisame had said he could call her that, when they'd said good night. It was so….friendly. Seto wasn't a friendly person. Charismatic, yes. A leader, certainly. But "friendly"….that wasn't something that came off Seto in droves. In fact, his nemesis, Yugi, had made it very clear….Seto was unfriendly. He refused to be part of their little club.

Yugi didn't get why. To Seto, it was obvious. Yugi and his dorky little friends were always babbling about magic and teamwork….two things that Seto had never really believed in. There was nothing magical about Seto's life. Magic and teamwork were just things stupid people dreamed of when they couldn't do things on their own. Seto was fine on his own…he didn't need friends, didn't see any use for them. Or for believing in fairy tales.

Nevertheless, Chisame had been friendly to him. Her friendliness was less repelling to him than Yugi's. It probably had something to do with the fact that Chisame didn't offer friendship to just anyone. **Not like Yugi-san, ** Seto thought, almost chuckling to himself in the darkness. ** Yugi-baka is a total friendship **_**whore. **_** He thinks everybody wants to be his friend. **

**And he calls **_**me**_** egotistical! ** Seto laughed bitterly to himself in the dark, as the high-pitched drone of Mokuba and Negi's conversation washed over him, annoyingly, again.

Seto hated listening to Negi tell his little brother fairy tales about wizardry. Seto knew the truth: the only "magic" in the world was hard work. This Negi kid needed to get over himself, and realize the truth.

Magic didn't exist. Magic hadn't brought them here, virtual reality tech had..**good** virtual reality tech, Seto thought, the kind he'd like to get his hands on, but tech nonetheless. Seto wasn't really magical, either, despite the wizard outfit he wore in the game. Magic wasn't real.

Seto wondered to himself if one of the reasons Chisame was so friendly to him was the fact that he was the only other person besides herself that could convince these idiots that magic wasn't what had trapped them, and wouldn't help them the way good old-fashioned gaming would.

He was a pragmatist. **Just like Chisame-chan.**

Across the clearing where they slept, in her own virtual tent, Chisame was awake, wishing all the things Seto was thinking were true.

**Author's Note: Thank you, first of all, to everyone who's added **_**Play for a Spell **_** to their Story Alert and/or Favorite Stories list. I'm glad you all like this story so much..It's the 1****st**** one I've written. I'm sorry I haven't updated it in forever. I've been working on my two new oneshots, **_**Hold On, Don't Cry **_** (for Fruits Basket) and **_**Where the Heart Lies **_**(for Soul Eater/Negima). I've also been promoting my friends' fics..but more info on that is on my profile, so I don't need to yak about it to you here. My newest fanfic, **_** A Night of Rebirth**_**, has also been a distraction :P It's a Yu-Gi-Oh/Soul Eater crossover..it's a Halloween-themed romance fic, so if you like that kind of thing, please check it out!…I've also been trying not to fail English IV O_0 Nevertheless, the increasing popularity of this story inspired me to write another chapter. Chapter 6 will be up soon, as well. Please review this chapter…I'd love to hear what my fans think of it! Y'all are the ones that make this possible, after all Keep reading, and keep supporting this fic.**

**-Storychan**


	6. Chapter 6

Chisame couldn't sleep….mostly because she wasn't awake. Though she realized virtual "sleep" was possible within the _Spectrum Virtuale _ version of _Magic's Play_, she was all too aware in the dim techno-twilight that her real body-not the mental/digital version that had met Seto and begged him to help her out of this mess- was still asleep in her dorm room, holding the artifact that had brought them here.

Apparently, the "real" Seto was now asleep in her dorm back at Mahora Academy, in the real world, as well. Seto's mind, on the other hand, was asleep in a tent across the clearing, in all likelihood praising her for making the virtual forest where they lay so real.

But it **hadn't** been her, no matter how badly she wished it had been. The fault for the situation lay at the feet of magic. Magic, which Chisame wished she hadn't been forced to believe was real.

**That's why I like Kaiba-sama so much, **Chisame mused, listening to the sleepy snores of Nodoka and Yue around her. She was happy those two, the ones who had chosen sleeping places closest to her own, had had more than enough time to fall silent and asleep while she had been talking with Seto. **I can't believe I was out there talking to him for so long, long enough for Honya-chan and Yuecchi to pass out from exhaustion waiting for me to get back so they could seal the tent. But it was so good to talk to someone like him..someone who doesn't believe in magic or blindly follow that ten-year-old brat these girls call a sensei. It was nice to talk to someone who still follows logic, who's still **_**normal**_**, unlike the ditzes and **_**baka **_** around Mahora Academy. **

**Well, as normal as a **_**teen corporate genius and duel champion **_**can be, that is, ** she smirked to herself in the semidarkness. In reality, the only "normal teenager" here was Chisame…or, at least, she _would_ have been, if she hadn't gotten ahold of the _Spectrum Virtuale._

If Chisame hadn't ferreted the secret of magic from Negi-sensei, or been dragged into making a Pactio with him and getting her technomagical artifact, the _Spectrum_, in the first place, her life wouldn't have gotten this problematic. If she hadn't, she would have never been able to enhance the game of _Magic's Play_, or trap them all here, she realized.

**Of course, **she thought to herself, smirking slightly, **then, I wouldn't have met Kaiba-sama, either. **

Therein lay her problem, the thing that was keeping her pragmatic, reluctantly- virtualized mind awake. She liked Seto because he was sane like her, not automatically believing magic was possible. He was a creature of logic alone, someone not manipulated by idiots who believed in magic, and in the sugary-sweet power of friendship. He'd said as much: he knew a dumb kid who believed he had some magical destiny, too. Yugi, he'd called him, who sounded almost exactly like Negi, but with more Egyptian leanings. Seto had refused to place his faith in Yugi's friendship or his magic, just as Chisame had refused Negi.

Nevertheless, there was one big difference between Seto and Chisame.

Seto could still refuse to believe magic existed. Chisame not only _knew _it did, she'd used it to bring herself here, and bring them together.

So her conversations with Seto had a flaw. Even as she and Seto had agreed that Negi and her classmates accepting magic had brought them here was stupid, she knew the truth.

Magic was real, and it was the _true _creator of the virtual reality Seto sought so badly to control.

As that cynical, sad thought bloomed in her mind, she heard Konoka, at the edge of the tent, shift and awaken. Chisame shifted out of the direction of the beam of light Konoka had magicked up to see by, but otherwise stayed silent.

"Set-chan!" Konoka whispered, calling to warrior-garbed Setsuna on the other side of the tent. Chisame heard Setsuna yawn and stretch from her sleeping place.

"What is it, Ojou-sama?" Setsuna answered tiredly, fingering the hilt of the sword given to her by the game system when they had arrived.

"Set-chan," Konoka giggled, "isn't this amazing? We're inside a _video game. _ We get to be _Magic's Play _heroes! Isn't that so _cool? _I get to be a Healer, and where the pretty outfit that kind of character wears in the game. I feel like I'm wearing cosplay. And you get to be a Warrior, Set-chan! Your knight outfit looks so _cute. _ I'm jealous!" she giggled, continuing, "It's so awesome that we get to do this, camp out in a magic forest and see dragons and stuff. It's _so _different from home, and I think it's really exciting!"

"I want you to be careful, though, Ojou-sama," Chisame heard Setsuna warn, "what if a dragon _ate _you, Konoka-ojousama? I-I-I'd never forgive m-myself."

Chisame didn't look, but she swore Konoka must have been pouting. That was the difference between Konoka and herself. Konoka thought it was "amazing" to go inside a technomagical bubble and pretend to be a wizard, even if she was trapped there. Chisame just found it problematic.

"Either way," said Konoka, "I'm happy that I get to do this. I know we have to get home, but, honestly, I love it here! I could stay in this dream world forever."

At that, Chisame forced herself into a sitting position and spoke up. "Konoe-san!" she chided in the darkness, "You _can't _stay here forever. God, you shouldn't even _say _that. Do you not _get _the fact that if Kaiba-sama hadn't showed up and agreed to help us beat the game, our minds might seriously be trapped in here for the rest of our _lives_? We wouldn't get to ever go back to the dorms, or the real world, or our normal lives. We wouldn't be able to graduate with the rest of the class. We'd probably _die _in here…if not for Kaiba-sama's help."

"For that, then," said Nodoka, awakened by Chisame's unwontedly passionate speech, "I'm very grateful that Kaiba-san has agreed to help us beat the game of _Magic's Play_. I've never played this kind of game before, so I'd probably fail on my own. It's good that Kaiba-san can help us get home. But, nevertheless, Chisame-san…." Here Nodoka paused, and Chisame braced herself for a critique of the plan she'd worked so hard on to get them help and home.

"Nevertheless, Chisame-san, I'm excited about this opportunity, and I think you are, too, otherwise you wouldn't have enhanced _Magic's Play _this way in the first place. You've given us a wonderful, magical place, here, and even though I do eventually want to leave with you're and Kaiba-san's help, I intend to enjoy the opportunity to be a mage, even if it's just pretend, for as long as and as well as I possibly can."

"Nodoka's right," Yue agreed, now also awake after hearing the conversation of the others, "Anything less would be a waste of Chisame-san's artifact, correct?"

Chisame grumbled, but inwardly realized couldn't particularly argue there. The power of the _Spectrum Virtuale _**was** kind of incredible. It had made the world where they now talked and slept. It had allowed her to meet Seto Kaiba, and allowed them to both use magic in a way that didn't make them feel like they were sinking down to the foolish level of their enemies….Negi for Chisame, and Yugi for Seto.

For better or worse, here they were, and here they would remain until victory could be reached. Now, all they had to do was survive.


End file.
